Next story in Space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The private spaceflight company SpaceX has
aborted its first attempt to launch the Dragon commercial space
capsule on its inaugural test flight this morning.

The abort occurred just under three minutes before the scheduled
launch at 9:06 a.m. EST (1406 GMT). The next attempt could take
place at 10:38 a.m. EST (1538 GMT), SpaceX officials said.

"We did have an abort in the terminal countdown sequence," said
SpaceX's John Insprucker, Falcon 9 rocket product director,
during commentary. "We're evaluating what the abort condition
was."

The company's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon
space capsule are set to lift off from the Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 here in Florida.

SpaceX has two remaining opportunities to launch the Dragon
spacecraft today. The first window opens at 10:38 a.m. EST (1538
GMT) and lasts five minutes. The second is a four-minute window
that opens at 12:16 p.m. EST (1716 GMT), Insprucker said.

The test flight of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was originally
planned for Dec. 7, but the
launch was delayed after two cracks were found in the
aft end of the second-stage engine nozzle extension of the Falcon
9 rocket.

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, short for Space Exploration
Technologies, was founded
by millionaire Elon Musk, co-founder of the PayPal online
payment system and CEO of the Tesla electric car company.

For tomorrow's demonstration flight, the Falcon 9 rocket will
carry the Dragon
space capsule into low-Earth orbit. The capsule will
then separate from the rocket's second stage and between two and
three orbits of the Earth, demonstrating its operational
communications, navigation and maneuvering abilities.

The spaceship will then re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and land
in the Pacific Ocean to be recovered by a ship. The target
splashdown area is about 500 miles (nearly 805 km) west of
Mexico, SpaceX officials said. The full duration of the test
flight is expected to last approximately 3 1/2 hours, they added.

"When Dragon returns, whether on this mission or a future one, it
will herald the dawn of an incredibly exciting new era in space
travel," Musk said in a statement. "This will be the first new
American human-capable spacecraft to travel to orbit and back
since the Space Shuttle took flight three decades ago."

SpaceX has reportedly spent about $600 million to date on its
Dragon and Falcon rocket programs since Musk founded the company
in 2002.

That investment has netted SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract with
NASA to use its Dragon spacecraft for cargo flights to the
International Space Station following the retirement of the
agency's space shuttle fleet next year. SpaceX plans to fly at
least 12 unmanned Dragon missions through 2016 to deliver
supplies to the space station.

The Dragon space capsules are named after Puff the Magic Dragon,
since many critics considered it to be impossible, SpaceX
officials have said. SpaceX's Falcon 9 and smaller Falcon 1
rockets are named after the Millennium Falcon, the fictional
"Star Wars" spaceship of choice for the character Han Solo.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets stand about 180 feet (nearly 55 meters)
tall and are 12 feet (3.6 meters) wide, according to SpaceX
descriptions. The Dragon capsule and its unpressurized trunk are
just over 20 feet (6 meters) long and have an interior cabin that
is just over 10 feet (3 meters) wide at its widest point.

Commercial space taking flight

If successful, SpaceX will be the first commercial company to
launch and re-enter a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. The
mission is also SpaceX's second launch of its two-stage Falcon
rocket. The first Falcon 9 rocket launched on a successful test
flight in mid-June.

"This is an extremely exciting milestone for both NASA and
SpaceX," said Phil McAlister, acting director of commercial space
flight development at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"We've got an extremely challenging year ahead with the remaining
milestones, but getting this far this fast has been a remarkable
achievement."

The test flight will also be the first by any company under
NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program,
which is designed to stimulate the development of private
space vehicles capable of carrying cargo and crew to the
International Space Station.

"[NASA has] been a fantastic customer for us," said Gwynne
Shotwell, president of SpaceX, in a prelaunch news briefing
Monday. "The relationship has been extraordinary, and both teams
have learned a lot."

SpaceX's $1.6 billion space station cargo contract with NASA is
separate from its COTS deal, which offers $278 million for
successful demonstration tests of hardware capable of space
station deliveries.

NASA has also awarded another cargo contract to the
Virginia-based company Orbital Sciences to provide robotic
delivery ships for the space station. That deal promises Orbital
Sciences $1.9 billion for eight cargo flights using its new
unmanned Cygnus spacecraft and Taurus 2 rockets.

SpaceX also hopes to win a contract to one day ferry astronauts
to the station though the Dragon capsule is not yet certified to
carry human passengers into space.